Bookstore Shelving
Cheap Shelving
Cheap shelving for your bookshop can be one of the more difficult decisions for a new shop owner to make. The look and feel of his shop will obviously be affected quite a bit as will his budget. Our bookstore has been open for three and a half years now, long enough to see how our cheap shelving choice has stood up. For the reasons mention above we decided to skip custom bookstore shelving and go with Ikea. The look of their black-brown veneer shleving has been commented on by a majority of our visitors all in the positive.
We also need to consider the practicality of building or having somebody build your shelves. All the cutting, measuring (twice of course!) and especially staining and finishing is quite time consuming. If you are paying a contractor to do this it will get expensive fast.You will also most likely be forced to keep the shelves where they are. What I really like about the Ikea shelves is that not only were they a breeze to construct, taking about ten minutes per unit, but if you ever decide to modify the layout of the shop you can easily move the shelves around. We have actually done this three times already.
Calculating the cost of your bookstore shelving is simple enough, just calculate the wall space, or floor space that you need to cover, jump onto the Ikea web site to see the sizes they offer and do some simple math. You will quickly see what your costs will be, pretty cheap. Now find a contractor and ask for an estimate. Keep in mind the overruns in cost (often over 25%), add in the dust/noise/inconvenience/smell of varnish and time chewed up and you should have a fairly clear view of which choice to make.
One other quick word about color choice if you decide to go with the Ikea shleves. We chose the black-brown option and are quite happy with it. You would think that a darker color may not be the best choice for hiding dust but it works fine. The shelves are easy to maintain and the dust that does accumulate does not really show.
Another bonus with this cheap shelving system is that all but the middle shelf are replaceable. If you have some shelves that become bowed over time it’s very easy to buy a replacement shelf. This has not happened to us yet.
So to finalize we went with Ikea’s Billy system, black-brown veneer finish for our bookstore shelving and are quite happy with the results.
..and here’s a funny article on how bookshops shelve their books.
[...] you want to use, you’ll better know whether you feel up to a carpentry project or not. Most premade bookshelves are usually designed for the library style shelving, but a little searching may yield ones suitable [...]
[...] to this incredible find, we finally had enough stock to set up shop. We found some ex video shop shelving which was very ugly, but cheap and would certainly do “for now”. One truck for our stuff, and [...]
[...] are stocked rather well, and should make most buyers happy. On my Christmas wish list remains NEW SHELVING. But that will have to wait a while yet. And that front door isn’t going to happen before [...]
[...] on a compromise between cost and appearance. It turned out that we were quite happy with our selection of bookstore shelving and wrote about it [...]
Grins, I think I could write a entire blog on the trials and tribulations of bookstore shelving. To keep it simple we began when Hollywood Video was going out of business. Many of the stores had liquidation sales. We obtained many a shelf for very cheap, not to mention islands with wheels, plastic shelving to go on end caps, signage that we could use for our pricing. In our area there still are many Hollywood Video stores which have shelving in them. You have to contact the individual realtors to make deals.
The shelving basically serves our purpose for now. They are non adjustable but very sturdy once they are set. Great for paperbacks not neccessarily hardbacks or any type of oversize books. Usually the top and bottom shelves will accomodate hardbacks, but that doesn’t really help since the six shelves inbetween have to accomodate hardbacks. We turn many of the hardbacks on their sides. Most customers dont mind, I have one customer that says we must have sections with just paperbacks and then hardbacks, which is impossible although I see the point.
The only downturn with this shelving is that they come in sections. You can easily move one section without taking apart, possibly two, but after that you are at the mercy of learning how to take apart and even harder, put back together until you become used to it. We have moved many of these shelves, most times without too much stress, but have had collapses, the occasional bump on the head, or cuts on the fingers or arms. The cost far outweighes these slight mishaps. Once they are set, we havent had any problems.
Pat
Does anyone know of any supplier of used shelving. Seems like a lot of reatilers going out of business might make a lot of this avaialble.
Sure Ikea book cases are inexpensive and present well.. But really how effective are they at selling your product?
Specialized systems, specifically developed to properly display and merchandise e.g. books in appropriate high traffic store areas have been proven to increase sales by 100%.
Book shelves offer great storage capacity, displaying books face on, on a simple acrylic shelving system would generally attract more potential buyers apposed to many books huddled together like a group of penguins in a blizzard.
Consider speaking to a professional shop shelving supplier for helpful advice on which type of system would be right for your application.
Why did you choose the IKEA over a traditional fixture vendor such as Franklin Fixtures ? I am opening a new store on South Padre Island, TX and am currently in the middle of construction of the building which will combine my residence and the shop. I believe my builder may be able to build-in the floor to ceiling shelves located against the walls, but I am looking for freestanding units. It will be nice to have another option to consider. So many choices need to be made and at time it seems overwhelming. I am looking for ideas, suggestions, and advice anywhere I can find it so I particularly like this site. / Joni
posted from mobile phone
Bruce:
I’m opening a B & M shop in October in Tacoma, WA. Approximately 1200 sq feet. I have to say, I had never thought about this option until reading your post, but find it to be highly attractive, as I won’t have to play carpenter, sander, stainer etc. Can you give me a rough estimate of the size of your store, how high your shelves go and what the approx cost was? Also, I’d love to see any photos of the the shelves in your store if you could email me a few.
Thanks,
Tim Lohraff
Seattle, WA